Deaths on the north face of Eiger
Joshua Berman
Howdy all..
The following five people died (in this order) trying to climb the north
face of Eiger (I'm pretty sure)
1.Bartolo Sandri
2.Uli Wyss
3.Ernesto Navarro
4.Tsuneaki Watabe
5.Jiri Siegl
Can anybody verify this (or tell me where I might)?
Can anybody give me other info about them dates, etc? I'm especially
interested in any common bonds, i.e. made the same mistake, died in the
same place or in the same way..
Any help would be appreciated, you can post here, or direct mail to me at
jos...@santafe.edu
Thanks,
Joshua Berman
jos...@santafe.edu
Richard A. Spritz, M.D.
I'm sure you are asking in the name of science, but this is a pretty
weird post, Joshua. Actually, I believe the total number of deaths on
Eiger Nordwand is something like 50, but who's counting? Read Harrer's
"The White Spider" or Roth's (I think that's his name) "Eiger-Wall of
Death" if you are into the death thing.
Rich
Jeff Batten
In article <Pine.SOL.3.95.970318214408.10704A-100000@santafe>,
jos...@santafe.edu says...
Shit, way more people have died on El Cap then the Eiger.
Steelmnkey
Joshua Berman (jos...@santafe.edu) wrote:
-- The following five people died (in this order) trying to climb the
north
-- face of Eiger (I'm pretty sure)
-- 1.Bartolo Sandri
Died June 21st, 1938. Climbing with Mario Menti. Fell near the
"difficult crack"
-- 2.Uli Wyss
Recorded as the 12th ascent of the Eiger face. Between August 20-22,
1953 with partner Karlheinz Gonda. Fell to their death from the summit
ice field on the third day after completing the climb of the face.
Recognition
of this ascent, withheld for a decade, was finally accorded in 1964.
-- 3.Ernesto Navarro
Ernesto Navarra and Alberto Rabada were on the face between August
11th and 15th, 1963. They battled their way to the Spider where they
died of exhaustion and exposure.
-- 4.Tsuneaki Watabe
Died August 1965. He and partner Mitsumasa Takada were a
couple hundred feet from the summit when Watabe fell and tumbled
a hundred feet down a gully. Takada held his parntner then climbed up to
Watabe and helped him onto a ledge. Watabe had a broken leg. Takada
anchored him to the wall and climbed to the summit and then descended
to the Kleine Sheidegg (4am) and then past to alert the rescue attempt.
The rescue was delayed by bad weather and some other goofy stuff
by the rescue service and local guides. After a scan of the face
with a telescope by Toni Habeler (recently arrived) at 5:45am, he saw
a red crumpled heap at the bottom of the wall. The flew a helicoptor out
to pick up Watabe at 7am from the bottom of the face. The theory on
what happened to Watabe was that he committed suicide. Takada said
he knew he had firmly anchored him to the wall. Takada was the 27th
death on the wall.
-- 5.Jiri Siegl
Died April 1977. Jiri Pechous and Jiri Siegl left their camp for the
final summit push. Two partners followed them up the fixed lines
and on arrival at the pillar above the Fly, they found two rucksacks
and a ten foot piece of broken rope. The partners started rappelling
and looking for the two Jiri's, but had to hole up for two days due to
a storm. They finally made it down safely. Pechous and Siegl were
found a month later at the foot of the wall. The 42nd and 43rd deaths
on the wall.
Incidentally, there are many others that died on the face besides
these five. Including (but not limited to) the following:
Max Sedlmayer and Karl Mehringer (August 1935). First deaths.
Edi Ranier, Willy Angerer, Andreas Hinterstoisser, Toni Kurz (July '36)
Sandri and Menti (listed above).
Paul Korber, Roland Vass (July 1953).
Wyss and Gonda (listed above).
Dieter Sohnel and Walter Moosmuller (August 1956)
Gunther Nothdurft, Fanz Mayer, Stefano Longhi (August 1957) 14th Ascent
Adolph Mayr (Auust 1961) Died on first solo attempt.
As of 1977, there were 43 deaths on the wall.
etc...etc... Pick up a copy of the White Spider, by Heinrich Harrer.
I just happened to be reading it right now and saw your post. Also
you can get Eiger - Wall of Death, by Arthur Roth, which is also
quite detailed.
Hope this helps.
G.
"Vy can't ve chust climb?" - John Salathe
Steallight
Keep in mind in this age of technical ascents, that the earliest ascents
were made with ten-point strap on crampons, wearing wool clothing and no
goretex. Also remember that the German climbers used to call the Nordwand
"Der Mordwand."
Happily dancing in the Phil Zone and scattering Garcia Ashes!
S Lenon ( for anyone who gives a damn)
Inez Drixelius
In article <19970321155...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
steal...@aol.com (Steallight) wrote:
Also remember that the German climbers used to call the Nordwand
> "Der Mordwand."
**Die**Mordwand (murdering wall--Slime will love that! Blaming the rock.)
Mord is "feminin," Wand is "maskulin." The article, however belongs to the
wall...Go figure...
>
> Happily dancing in the Phil Zone and scattering Garcia Ashes!
I miss Jerry.
Inez
Chris Weaver
Inez Drixelius <inez...@uclink.berkeley.edu> wrote in article
<inezdrex-2...@goodman5.lsa.berkeley.edu>...
> Mord is "feminin," Wand is "maskulin." The article, however belongs to
the
> wall...Go figure...
I'm confused. If Mord (death) is feminine and Wand (wall) is masculine,
then shouldn't it be "der Mordwand" as the previous poster suggested? Mord
in this case serves as an adjective, and thus plays no part in the
article's gender doesn't it? Please clarify.
Chris Weaver
wayne trzyna
In article <Pine.SOL.3.95.970318214408.10704A-100000@santafe>,
The White Spider has an apendix listing the outcome of each early attempt.
>Can anybody give me other info about them dates, etc? I'm especially
>interested in any common bonds, i.e. made the same mistake, died in the
>same place or in the same way..
Stone-fall and bad weather seem to be prevelant causes.
PS: In an epilogue to my copy of the White Spider, Heinrich Harrer
says he is including a thorough route description as an appendix.
But then, the appendix does not appear. Does anyone have a copy with
the route description? If so, please send me email. (I am leaving for
Grindelwald in a week.)
--
-Wayne Trzyna
trz...@CS.ColoState.EDU
Mark Schneider
On 21 Mar 1997 17:39:11 GMT, inez...@uclink.berkeley.edu (Inez
Drixelius) wrote:
>In article <19970321155...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
>steal...@aol.com (Steallight) wrote:
>
> Also remember that the German climbers used to call the Nordwand
>> "Der Mordwand."
>
>**Die**Mordwand (murdering wall--Slime will love that! Blaming the rock.)
>
>Mord is "feminin," Wand is "maskulin." The article, however belongs to the
>wall...Go figure...
>>
>> Happily dancing in the Phil Zone and scattering Garcia Ashes!
>
>I miss Jerry.
>
>Inez
Jerry who?
Mark - still in the cloud (sometimes) from his last GD concert.
***************************************************************
* onb...@ma.ultranet.com *
* *
* Mark Schneider, WI1W http://www.ultranet.com/~onbelay *
* Manchester, NH *
***************************************************************
.
Steallight
>
>I'm confused. If Mord (death) is feminine and Wand (wall) is masculine,
>then shouldn't it be "der Mordwand" as the previous poster suggested?
Mord
>in this case serves as an adjective, and thus plays no part in the
>article's gender doesn't it? Please clarify.
>Chris Weaver
knowing only sufficient German to get into trouble and insufficient to
get out of trouble, I'll let the German speakers among us debate and
decide this. Suffice it to say that the Eiger north face was called the
"murder wall." In early history, it certainly lived up to it's
reputation.
Happily dancing in the Phil Zone and scattering Garcia Ashes!
S Lenon ( for anyone who gives a damn)
Wolfgang Soergel
Chris Weaver wrote:
>
> Inez Drixelius <inez...@uclink.berkeley.edu> wrote in article
> <inezdrex-2...@goodman5.lsa.berkeley.edu>...
> the
> > wall...Go figure...
>
> then shouldn't it be "der Mordwand" as the previous poster suggested? Mord
> in this case serves as an adjective, and thus plays no part in the
> article's gender doesn't it? Please clarify.
>
> Chris Weaver
Chris, youare right. Mord is maskulin, Wand is feminin and so is
"Mordwand".
Inex got it right when saying "Die Mordwand" (die is feminin) but then
probabely
confused genders..
--
Wolfgang Soergel
Lehrstuhl fuer Nachrichtentechnik phone: ++49-9131-857781
Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg fax: ++49-9131-303840
Cauerstrasse 7 email:
wsoe...@nt.e-technik.uni-erlangen.de
D-91058 Erlangen, GERMANY
http://www.nt.e-technik.uni-erlangen.de/~wsoergel
Steven Deem
On 21 Mar 1997, Steallight wrote:
> Keep in mind in this age of technical ascents, that the earliest ascents
> were made with ten-point strap on crampons, wearing wool clothing and no
> goretex. Also remember that the German climbers used to call the Nordwand
> "Der Mordwand."
>
Harrer didn't even have crampons - just nailed boots!
John Byrnes
Wolfgang Soergel (wsoe...@nt.e-technik.uni-erlangen.de) wrote:
> Chris, youare right. Mord is maskulin, Wand is feminin and so is
> "Mordwand".
> Inex got it right when saying "Die Mordwand" (die is feminin) but then
> probabely confused genders..
Inez didn't confuse genders in her native language. She was tickled
by the double entendre.
Have you never heard of a "femme fatale"? (Switching languages again)
"A seductive woman who lures men into dangerous or compromising
situations"
- Lord Slime
Chris Weaver
Steven Deem <sd...@u.washington.edu> wrote:
> Harrer didn't even have crampons - just nailed boots!
I don't see what Heinrich Harrer's sordid fetishes have to do with this!
Chris Weaver
Clyde Soles
Steven Deem <sd...@u.washington.edu> wrote:
> Harrer didn't even have crampons - just nailed boots!
However they did have ice axes with steeply curved picks about 30 years
before Chouinard claimed to have invented them.
Chris Weaver
John Byrnes <byr...@fc.hp.com> wrote
> Have you never heard of a "femme fatale"? (Switching languages again)
>
> "A seductive woman who lures men into dangerous or compromising
> situations"
*** New from FlossFilm Entertainment ***
DIE MORDKLETTERFRAU
"She leads and then she kills!"
Watch in horror as the black widow of climbing, played by Inez
Drecksillyus, lures unsuspecting men into her clutches by offering to lead
the horrible maw of death, "der Hardingslot!" Prepare to be terrified as
innocent hardman-wannabes are lured into believing that they have avoided
sure death only to be dismembered by a sharpened nut tool as they tie in to
the belay! This film is not for the faint of heart! Many horrific scenes of
ritual belayer mutilation and tying in by the belay loop will leave you
gasping for breath and teetering at the edge of your seat!
This film is not yet rated, but will probably scare the censors silly!
Directed by: Struan "E6 means it's an easy 5.6! Honest!" Gray
Produced by: Chris "leave the quickdraws to Clint Eastwood" Weaver
Starring: Inez Drecksillyus as Die Mordkletterfrau
Mad Dog McCoy as Jack "Rope" Gunn, hero and protagonist
John Byrnes as the evil Doctor Flaimnooby, accompice to die
Mordkletterfrau and nefarious mastermind
Amanda Tralala as the voluptious Miss Lottacams with the
figure-eight body
Coming during Fall! err.. that's Coming in Fall!
Watch for local listings!
met...@aol.com
The reason it is Die Mordwand is because Wand is wall in German and Mord is a descriptor. Therefore it is Die because Wand is feminine.
A.M.
Steallight
>
>Harrer didn't even have crampons - just nailed boots!
>Newsgroups: rec.climbing
quite correct. lots of things we take for granted are very recent
innovations.
Steven Deem
On Wed, 26 Mar 1997, Clyde Soles wrote:
>
> However they did have ice axes with steeply curved picks about 30 years
> before Chouinard claimed to have invented them.
Yes, but its my understanding that they tried to keep this secret so as to
have a bit of an advantage. I'm not sure that Chouinard actually knew
about this when he came out with his version.
Steallight
>
> However they did have ice axes with steeply curved picks about 30 years
> before Chouinard claimed to have invented them.
..Yes, but its my understanding that they tried to keep this secret so as
to
..have a bit of an advantage. I'm not sure that Chouinard actually knew
..about this when he came out with his version.
Wasn't Chouinard's contribution to curve the pick on the ice axe? They
were in use in Europe long before Yvonne.
Steven Deem
On 28 Mar 1997, Steallight wrote:
> >
> Wasn't Chouinard's contribution to curve the pick on the ice axe? They
> were in use in Europe long before Yvonne.
>
I think that's what we were trying to get at. There were actually curved
picks around before Chounard, but they were kept somewhat "secret" by
their users (Germans? Austrians?). Chouinard may not have known about
them when he introduced his version.
Inez Drixelius
In article <01bc3a2d$aaa04220$0f79...@cweaver.colybrand.com>, "Chris
Weaver" <cwe...@erols.com> wrote:
> > "A seductive woman who lures men into dangerous or compromising
> > situations"
>
> *** New from FlossFilm Entertainment ***
>
> DIE MORDKLETTERFRAU
> "She leads and then she kills!"
>
This is very funny, Chris, and thanks, I loved the attention.
Incidentally, my real name is Gnar-Gnar Dyslexius and just because I have a
black widow tattoo on my chest, doesn't mean I kill. I divorce instead.
And, of course, I wear kneepads.
I am printing your post for MadDog's perusal when I see him next week...
--
Inez Drixelius
Berkeley, California
"I know Hell's Angels that whine more than you."
(Lord Slime)
Duncan Thomson
Steallight wrote:
>
> Keep in mind in this age of technical ascents, that the earliest ascents
> were made with ten-point strap on crampons, wearing wool clothing and no
> goretex.
Actually, I think that Heinrich Harrar did it with NO crampons.
Duncan
Robert Ternes
In article <19970328131...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
steal...@aol.com (Steallight) wrote:
*SNIP*
#Wasn't Chouinard's contribution to curve the pick on the ice axe? They
#were in use in Europe long before Yvonne.
^^^^^^^
What are you trying to say?????
Robert "I'd like a clarification" Ternes
rte...@u.arizona.edu
Bob Harrington
In article <1997040110...@slip1143.rmii.com>,
Clyde Soles <cso...@rmi.net> wrote:
>It's debatable whether Chouinard ever actually invented anything.
The idea behind hexentrics was pretty original. Was there an earlier
similar nut that he took the idea from?
Bob
Clyde Soles
Steallight <steal...@aol.com> wrote:
> Wasn't Chouinard's contribution to curve the pick on the ice axe? They
> were in use in Europe long before Yvonne.
It's debatable whether Chouinard ever actually invented anything.
However he was undeniably good at modifying existing designs. Curved
picks were not a secret -- one can be seen in use in a 1938 German
climbing film.
Clyde Soles
Bob Harrington <r...@aruba.u.arizona.edu> wrote:
> The idea behind hexentrics was pretty original. Was there an earlier
> similar nut that he took the idea from?
Well of course hexes had been around quite a while. Tom Frost was the
man behind hexcentrics and quite a few other well known "Diamond C"
products. He's back too. The new FROST Sentinel nuts are *really* nice.
Bob Harrington
In article <1997040120...@max31119.rmi.net>,
Clyde Soles <cso...@rmi.net> wrote:
>Bob Harrington <r...@aruba.u.arizona.edu> wrote:
>
>> The idea behind hexentrics was pretty original. Was there an earlier
>> similar nut that he took the idea from?
>
>Well of course hexes had been around quite a while.
I mean the idea of having the load on the nut torque it so it gets tighter,
rather than relying only on the constriction of the crack to hold it in
place. A big improvement over the other junk you could buy at the time. I
think that was a Chouinard Equip. inovation, though maybe not due to Chouinard
himself. But sure, it was an incremental improvement on a long standing
idea.
>Tom Frost was the
>man behind hexcentrics and quite a few other well known "Diamond C"
>products. He's back too. The new FROST Sentinel nuts are *really* nice.
Never heard of them. What are they?
Bob
Robert Ternes
In article <5hrv96$13oc$1...@news.ccit.arizona.edu>,
r...@aruba.u.arizona.edu (Bob Harrington) wrote:
#In article <1997040110...@slip1143.rmii.com>,
#Clyde Soles <cso...@rmi.net> wrote:
#
#>It's debatable whether Chouinard ever actually invented anything.
#
#The idea behind hexentrics was pretty original. Was there an earlier
#similar nut that he took the idea from?
#
#Bob
I'm using some really large hexagonal wrenches right now to refurbish my swamp
coolers that are essentially symmetrical hexes. They're 4 inch lengths of
hexagonal tubing stock, with one side larger than the other (say, one side is
1 3/8" and the other side is slightly larger, starting at the midpoint,
measuring 1.5"). Each side is drilled just like a hex is to accept a leverage
rod inserted into it perpendicular to the major axis.
Robert "Cats win!!!!!" Ternes
rte...@u.arizona.edu
Steallight
>
>Wuddabout RURPs? Although I guess you could say they were just skinnier
>KBs.
>hmmmmm...I'm having trouble thinking about any out-of-the-blue Chouinard
>inventions.
>-t
what about a demand for highly durable outdoor chic attire by folks who
seldom walk farther than from their overpriced imported luxury cars to
their offices, and who rarely make an ascent without the elevator?
but I do love their "stand up shorts" Damn they hold up on rock better
than elastic and synthetics ever will.